Reviews by ahatcher78:

Holy Sweetness! Over the Top Man! Picked up a few 750's from the best one off bottle shop in PB county BX Beer Depot.Very nice of Sally and the guys to hook up PBC with some goodness.

A- Murky orange color(vienna?),can't see through this one kiddos.. A slight white head that gradually fades and leaves a thin layer of lacing around the glass..

S-I'm in heaven! Very malty. Citrus and tropical fruits. Maybe pine, but more of stickiness than anything.

T- Sweet, sweet, and with a touch of sweet. Nice maltiness with some honey and perhaps Brown sugar. A nice hop balance of hops to edge to add to the sweet. Tropical fruits and piney resin.

M- Smooth and creamy. Not what I was expecting. I guess low carbonation for the style?

D-Reminds me of Pisgah Vortex I without the carbonation. Up the carbonation on this and it would be awesome. I even poured a pint into a SA Perfect Pint and the bubbles cant break through the sweetness of the gravity. A little tinkering with recipe... (985 characters)

More User Reviews:

A: Poured into my pint glass, this brew pours a deep orange yellow with a pillow like orangy tan head. Not exactly what I was expecting from a beer that is based off a West Coast IPA.

S: The aroma is very sweet and bitter. Interesting, unique. Fruity with slight hints of bready malt.

T: This is not a DIPA, or even close to that. This is like a slightly hoppy sweet malt bomb. Fruity with a little hop bite. Triple the amount of hop here and I think CCB would be on to something. This is very similar to the malt profile of their Big Sound Scotch ale. Its almost like they took that and tried to make a big IPA out of it.

MF: The MF is fine without being too exciting. Medium mouth feel with a very smooth carbonation.

D: Because of the sweetness, this brew's drinkability is going to suffer. Unless you have a sweet tooth, you wouldn't want more then a 750ml.

Overall, it is a shame Batch 3 was not a stout, but I would like this to continue in the big IPA direction. Like I said, with triple the hops, you'd have an amazing DIPA. They can also spin this one off into an amazing barely wine if they darkened up the grain bill, and doubled the hops. CCB has proven to be malt artist. If you'd like to sample a world class IPA, get your hands on some Jai Alai, or Humidor IPA. (1,283 characters)

Pours a hazy dark copper color with a half-finger cream-colored head. The head recedes into a patchy layer on top leaving solid lacing.

Smells of sticky sweet caramel malts with good amounts of leafy hop aromas. Also present are mild amounts of toffee.

Tastes very similar to how it smells. Thick caramel malt flavors with large amounts of toffee influence kick things off. Midway through the sip the sweetness subsides just a bit as leafy and somewhat herbal hop flavors work their way into things. The hops then fade out into a sweet ending.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with smooth carbonation.

Drinkability is OK. I finished my glass without any problems however I'm not sure about another.

Overall this wasn't a bad beer but I just found it too sweet. If you're a fan of English barley wines you'll likely be a fan of this beer but as long as you know what to expect you may find yourself a fan even if you're normally a hophead. (999 characters)

Had on tap at beer release at the source as they say: Was served at 55-60f on cask. The beer pouring guy poured it very nice with only about 1/2 inch of head in a nice pint sized shaker glass, no sorry ass sniffers here boys. I had 2 of these so this review is from notes in Late May 2010

A: lace lasts for about 10 minutes as I drink this one down, orange and cloudy in color. Looks like a hefe to me, good stuff.

S: ah very nice flowery pineapple citrus nose, one can tell its an DIPA, some candy sugar detected, me know I am going to like this as it NOT a hop bomb. so glad they made one I can drink too bad the HOP nuts are NOT going to enjoy this 1 that I can tell, but I have to review the bottle to know for sure. Some said it seemed like a barley wine and it did remind me of SN barley wine.

T: aah well now this is a damn fine beer and I can tell from others that are into Hoppy DIPA they are not going to like this 1.ME I loved the fruit tart pineapple and citrus malts flavors its very balanced and seemed like a less hoppy version of hop-slam.DID I say I loved it, ok its strong beer, but easy to drink. Sure the hops are in there and the sugar but its nice. Not much alcohol burn to it but after 1 you know you have some, can you say slight buzz I can.

M: rich, thick, no carbonation, its a cask as I expected it to be.

D: I had 2 and if I did not have to drink the 2 oak aged one next I would have 3! good stuff, I am glad now I have 2 DIPA I like, yea me. (1,477 characters)

Cigar City smokes NYC event at Rattle N Hum. This dark amber and lacey offering was listed incorrectly as a barleywine, which it was corrected by the Florida Cigar City sales rep to this listing. Neutral aroma, this is the batch from six months back, and the hops are present but subdued in taste and aroma. I found it hard to drink. (333 characters)

Murky orange in color with little carbonation. Aroma is honey & citric sweetness, with a very nice tropical fruit-hop component as well. Flavor leads very sweet with tangerine & honey, then turns bitter, with a hoppy syrup-like texture to reign it back into balance. The low carbonation and sweetness made it taste a bit wort-like, but the interchange of tropical fruit flavor and fresh hop bitterness made it strangely drinkable. Weird...and very good. (522 characters)

750 ml capped bomber into a couple of tulip glasses. Batch #3. Thanks go to Jw347 for this in a recent trade.

Pours a hazed coppery amber, with a finger cap of slightly off-white foamy head. Good flare-up here leaves back some thick and heavy lacing. The aroma is heavy in the nose with sweetness and warmth, as thick sugars and fruit control the nose. Some floral and piney character from the hops does hang on the edges but did I mention how sweet this is?

The taste is very similar, with loads of thick grainy malt that is made even sweeter by the notes of tropical fruit and heavier alcohol that are present. Hops are much more aggressive on the backend of the profile with sharp resins and spice that spread out into the mouth. Residual sweetness hangs with some heft in the finish. The mouthfeel is fuller bodied, with a smooth and creamy feel across the top of the mouth that then gives way to some sharpness underneath. Alcohol heat is kept to a minimum, probably because it all went into the sweetness of the profile.

I was just not a fan of this. Unbalanced, cloyingly sweet, and heavy feeling, I don't know where they went wrong with this one. I don't think that I finished even half my glass. Oh well. I'll just chalk this one up to an aberration and move on. (1,276 characters)

Served from bottle into a Bell's stemmed tulip. Poured a murky red-orange with a half finger slightly off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount quickly. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, caramel, caramel hop, and subtle alcohol. The flavor was of sweet malt, caramel, caramel hop, brown sugar, and subtle sweet alcohol. It had a medium feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was a decent brew. This one accidently got placed in the back shelf of my cellar and sat for a little while. I know this was not what CCB intended, but it was still a pretty solid brew even after this. Really reminded me of the flavors of a nice barleywine if I am honest. Lots of sweetness with just a hint of alcohol remaining. Pretty nice combination for sure. Worth trying even after this long of a time. (856 characters)

Pours a hazy honey brown color with amber hightlights. The head is thick, dense and creamy which slowly settles leaving a wall of lacing on the glass. The aroma is very sweet; candied tropical fruit and honey. Some light pepper notes as well. Don't pick up much hop aroma. Very much reminds me of a barley wine. The taste is big on the malt. Flavor is very sweet, candied fruit and heavy honey. There is some hop flavor tucked away but nothing that would tell me that this is a DIPA. Just as in the aroma there is some pepper notes. The feel is quite thick, syrupy and sticky. Just enough carbonation to avoid having a flat feel. This sucker showcases the malt too much for my liking of the style. Definitely would like to see some hop bite to offset the sweet heavy malt. Not a big fan of this one. (799 characters)

D- With the toasty malt, I really look forward to aging this one and seeing what that brings. The high marks for drinkability are because I do like this beer a lot but the lower-ish marks elsewhere are because it doesn't really fall in line with the style. (678 characters)

A - Pours a cloudy orange-copper with a thin white haze on the surface. Looks a bit thick, syrupy, and under-carbonated.S - Very sweet smelling with tons of caramel and dark honey malt, along with some pineapple and mandarin orange hop aromas. I don't think I'm gonna like this, not what I want in an IPA at all...T - Yeah, I hate this. Cloyingly sweet caramel malt with some canned pineapple and orange peel. Slight bitter grapefruit finish, and a whole bunch of alcohol. Messy and sweet.M - Thick, viscous and syrupy with very low, almost flat, carbonation.D - Drainpour. I hated this beer, and I'm starting to think I'll never be a fan of Cigar City's IPA offerings. (673 characters)

Thrilled to be able to crack this one open. I had been hearing some interesting things about how this turned out, I for one think it is brilliant. Consumed on 06/09/2010.

The pour was thick, dark yellow color with a deep cloudiness and weight to it that could be visually seen. A hefty head of white comes up and caps the top of the glass, settling down only briefly and coating the sides with thick white lacing.

Enormous aroma is very, very sweet. Lots of candied sugar, orange Popsicle, just really sweet hops. Cannot say enough in that regard and it carries over brilliantly into the flavor as well. Super saturated with juicy, sweet and sticky hops, this one is a monster. Rich orange and tangerine notes, creamsicles, honeydew, buttery malts, just wonderful. No bitterness to it at all, in fact just the opposite as it came off really sublime. Thick feel, almost syrup like at times save for the great carbonation that it carried through. Long, long finish was again soaked with sweet notes that turned out beautifully.

Overall I was in love with this beer. Not at all what I was expecting, rather a strikingly different take on the style. I was thrilled to death to have tried this and even more so to have some more bottles. Everyone deserves a taste of this one, really just that good. (1,300 characters)

Amber hued and quite hazy, this beer pours with a finger of off-white head that quickly settles to a collar. It has a chewy, viscous appearance. The aroma has a massive caramel character, sweet and rich with a light grapefruit hop note behind it. This smells like it's going to be pretty cloying, and surely enough, it is. Intensely sweet, you can almost feel the sugar sticking to your teeth. It's moderately hoppy, there's a touch of candied grapefruit and pine, but the malt character is simple, dominant and cloying. This is exactly how I don't like my IPAs, pretty awful stuff. (617 characters)

S - Not much here. A bit fruity - not citrusy, more like apple or grape.

T - One word - Sweet. Taste of honey and orange Gatorade. Not bad, just very, very sweet, like a Sunkist soda, minus some of the carbonation.

M - Very little carbonation, very syrupy. Disappointing.

D - One is enough. Again, this isn't bad, it just isn't really what I expected from a double IPA.

I've seen the 110K compared to a barley wine. To me, this is more like a wheat wine, and it seems more like Terrapin's Gamma Ray than any DIPA or barley wine I've ever had. I was looking forward to this, but am a little disappointed. It is unusual to say that a DIPA needs an infusion of hops bitterness, but this one does. (806 characters)

t - burst of sweet orange marmalade and caramel up front with a considerable citrusy bitterness on the midpalate, lingering orange and caramel sweetness on the finish along with strong booziness on the finish

m - full-bodied with very minimal carbonation, almost syrupy, good deal of alcohol warming

d - not very drinkable between the sweetness and booziness, not all that interesting or complex either

Not a bad beer, but I just can't get into it. For just being released, there just doesn't seem to be any kind of freshness to it -- tastes more like a DIPA that's been sitting around for too long. (807 characters)